Skin cancer is the most common form of cancer in the U.S., with more than 3.5 million skin cancers diagnosed annually. There are three major types of skin cancer: (1) basal cell carcinoma; (2) squamous cell carcinoma; and (3) melanoma. Of these three forms of skin cancer, melanoma is the deadliest form of the disease.
Basal cell carcinoma is the most common type of skin cancer in humans. These cancers tend to grow slowly and rarely spread to nearby lymph nodes or to distant parts of the body (see Worldwide Website: cancer.org). Treatment methods include simple excision, radiation therapy, and chemotherapy among others (see Worldwide Website: cancer.org).
Squamous cell carcinoma grows and spreads more than basal cell cancers. This cancer is more likely to invade fatty tissues just beneath the skin and is more likely to spread to lymph nodes and/or distant parts of the body, although this is still uncommon (see Worldwide Website: cancer.org). Treatment methods include excision, radiation therapy, systemic chemotherapy, and lymph node dissection (see Worldwide Website: cancer.org).
Malignant melanoma is a highly aggressive, chemo-resistant, radio-resistant and lethal malignant neoplasm which is responsible for 60-80% mortality among all skin cancers, with a 5 year survival rate of 14%. 2% of the population will be diagnosed with this malignancy, and well over 10,000 will die this year in the United States alone from metastatic melanoma. After melanoma has been diagnosed, there are five standard types of treatment used: surgery, chemotherapy, biologic therapy, targeted therapy, and radiation therapy. Surgical excisions are an early treatment method utilized for patients with thin, non-invasive lesions; excisional biopsies are conducted for easy histological evaluation and assessing excision margins of the remaining tumor. Melanoma has a high potential for systemic metastasis.